Discovery in toothpick dispenser



United States Patent 72] Inventors [22] Filed March 14, 1969 [45] Patented Nov. 10, 1970 [73] Assignee Genie Products Corporation Madison, Wisconsin a corporation of Wisconsin [54] DISCOVERY IN TOOTIIPICK DISPENSER 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52} US. Cl 221/196, 312/42, 221/189 [51] Int. Cl ..G07f1l/46, B65h 3/00 [50] Field ofSearch 221/189,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,204,364 11/1916 Lamothe 22l/l96 2,788,154 4/1957 Allen 221/196 Primary Examiner-David M. Bockenek Attorney-Joseph G. Werner, Theodore J. Long, John M.

Winter and James A. Kemmeter ABSTRACT: A toothpick dispenser having a base with a pair of upright sidewalls with generally forwardly declining upper edges each having a separating notch, track and cradle portion. A receptacle portion for holding a package of toothpicks is supported on an actuator lever pivotally mounted between the sidewalls of the base. When the actuator lever is depressed, the receptacle is pivoted forward over the notches in the upper edges of the sidewalls and deposits a toothpick therein. When the lever is released, the receptacle pivots rearwardly whereby wedge-shaped jogs protrude through longitudinally extending slots in the bottom of the receptacle to jog the toothpicks therein and a kicker element dislodges the dispensed toothpick from the notches for descent to a cradle portion in the base for manual pickup.

Patented Nov. 10, 1970 Sheet INVENTORS GEORGE E EDWARDS RODNEY L. HELGELAND Patented Nov. 10, 1970 Sheet INVENTORS DISCOVERY IN TOOTIIPICK DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a device for dispensing toothpicks singly and directly from their original package.

In restaurants, hotels, and other food service establishments, it is customary to provide a quantity of toothpicks in a receptacle for the convenience of the patrons. The display of toothpicks in an open container exposed to the hands of customers selecting a pick is obviously an unsanitary and undesirable condition.

Due to the desire of food service establishments to maintain as healthful an atmosphere as possible for their patrons, many devices have been developed in an attempt to provide a closed, sanitary container in which a 1 large number of toothpicks can be stored and delivered one at a time as the dispensing mechanism is actuated.

The toothpick dispensing devices which have been developed in the past have proved to be less than satisfactory for a number of reasons. Difficulty has been encountered in dispensing toothpicks singly from a closed container due to their tendency to bunch, break and generally become so disoriented that the container becomes clogged and inoperative. While dispensers have been designed with means to keep toothpicks in alignment by periodically jogging them to prevent jamming so that they can be delivered each time the device is actuated, generally these dispensers are not only so complex that their operation becomes unreliable after a relatively short time but their initial cost deters their use. Furthermore, many of these known dispensers often release more than one toothpick at a time, particularly after the device has been in use for some time.

in most of the known toothpick dispensersthe problems of sanitation still have not been completely eliminated, even though the containers have been made more sanitary, because one must still handle the toothpicks to remove them from the package and load the dispenser.

The operation of known toothpick dispensers can be characterized as random ejection or selective carrying. U.S. Pat. No. 2,714,973 (1955) is an example of the random ejection type of operation and discloses a knob which when rotated moves an elevator into a stack of toothpicks thereby ejecting a random toothpick from the stack and depositing it on a declining slideon which it is delivered to the operator. The selective carrying type of operation is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,154 in which a grooved dispensing plate is urged against a spring mechanism until the groove aligns itself with a toothpick dispensing throat which carries the toothpick to a dispensing tray.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally, our invention comprises a device which is very simple in construction and reliable in operation for automatically dispensing toothpicks one at a time directly from the original package, thus eliminating the problems of unsanitary handling of the toothpicks themselves during reloading of the dispenser.

The dispenser operates with a simple pivotal action lever without springs or other biasing members. The toothpicks are kept in alignmentin their original package and systematically jogged each time a toothpick is dispensed to prevent jamming so that the device will operate reliably to feed out one toothpick at a time in a sanitary condition.

Our toothpick dispenser has a base with a pair of upright sidewalls with generally forwardly declining upper edges. A receptacle portion for holding a package of toothpicks is supported on an actuator lever pivotally mounted between the sidewalls of the base for movement between-a normal rest position and a depressed dispensing position. When the actuator lever is depressed with one finger, the dispensing slot of the receptacle is pivoted forwardly over the separating notch in the upper edges ofthe sidewalls for effecting the separation of a toothpick from the mass and depositing same in the notch.

When the actuator lever is released, the receptacle pivots rearwardly whereby wedge-shaped jogs protrude through longitudinally extending slots in the bottom of the receptacle portion to jog the toothpicks therein and a kicker element dislodges the separated toothpick from the notch for descent to a cradle portion in the base for manual pickup.

Other objects, features and advantages of our invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention has been selected for exemplification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view of a toothpick dispenser embodying the principles of our invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevational side section view of our toothpick dispenser in dispensing position".

FIG. 3 is an elevational side sectional view of our toothpick dispenser in its normal "rest position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views. our toothpick dispenser is referred to generally by reference numeral 10 in FIG. I.

The dispenser has a base II comprising a pair of generally triangularshaped upright sidewalls I2 connected along their bottom edge by a base plate 13. The sidewalls each have a generally forwardly declining upper edge I4.'Each of the upper edges I4 have a separating notch 14a formed therein and a forwardly declining track portion Mb terminating in a cradle portion 14c forwardly of said track portion.

A substantially rectangular, forwardly declining receptacle portion 15 for holding a box 20 of toothpicks'is disposed rearwardly on the base II. The receptacle portion has a pair of sidewalls 16, a bottom wall 17, and a front wall 18 spaced from the bottom wall to form a transverse dispensing slot I9 across the front of the bottom wall. The receptacle portion is adapted to hold a box of toothpicks and to dispense toothpicks one at a time directly from the box through anopening 20a preferably formed in the box by removing a portion thereof along perforated tear lines in the bottom and end thereof.

The receptacle portion 15 is fixedly attached to and carried by an actuator lever 21 for movement therewith. The actuator lever has a forwardly extending tongue portion 2 la connected at substantially a right angle to a supporting wall 21b extending upwardly between the sidewalls of the base. The top of the support wall 21b has an attaching flange 21c fixedly secured to the bottom wall 17 of the receptacle portion. The tongue portion of the actuator lever has a pair of depending axle flanges 21d and a detent stop 2Ie formed on the underside thereof. The actuator lever 21 and receptacle portion I5 nre pivotally mounted in the base by an axle 22 extending through the depending flangcs 21d for pivotal movement between the dispensing position shown in FIG. 2 and the rest position shown in FIGS. land 3.

A forwardly extending kicker element 23 is mounted on support wall 211; in such a position that the tip end thereof extends into the space between the notches Ma formed in the upper edges of the sidewalls when the actuating lever and receptacle portion are in rest position shown in FIG. 2. When the actuator lever is depressed, as shown in FIG. 3, the kicker element 23 is pivoted with the actuator lever out of the space between notches I4a to permit the depositing of a toothpick in the notches.

As best shown in FIG. I, the bottom wall I7 of the receptacle portion has a pair of longitudinally extending slots 24 formed therein communicating with the transverse dispensing siot I9 at the front of the receptacle portion. The sidewalls of the base have wedge-shaped jogs Idd which extend upwardly through the'longitudinal slots M to jostie the toothpicks to prevent jamming in the box and permit free flow therefrom.

As shown in FIG. 2, the detent stop 21e formed on the underside of the tongue portion 21a of the actuator lever limits the downward pivotal movement of the tongue portion so that the transverse dispensing slot 19 formed in the forward portion of the receptacle portion is positioned directly over the separating notch 14a when the actuator lever is fully depressed.

To load the dispenser, the opening 201: is first formed in the toothpick box by removing a portion thereof along perforated tear lines. The toothpick box is then held in one hand with the opening formed therein facing upward so as not to spill any of the toothpicks from the box. The dispenser is held in the other hand in an inverted position whereby the box can be slid into the receptacle portion. The dispenser is then placed on a table or other flat surface in the position shown in H6. 3 and is ready for operation.

To dispense a toothpick from our device, one merely depresses the tongue portion of the actuator lever until the detent stop engages the base plate as shown in FlG. 2, thus, limiting further movement of the actuator lever. When in this position, the dispensing slot is directly over the separating notch 14a and permits a single toothpick to drop through the slot into the notch to achieve separation from the rest of the toothpicks.

When the actuator lever is released, the receptacle portion is pivoted rearwardly by gravity whereby the front wall of the receptacle portion sweeps over the separating notch leaving a single toothpick therein. As the receptacle portion moves toward the rest position shown in H0. 3, the wedge-shaped jogs protrude through the longitudinally extending slots in the bottom of the receptacle portion to jog the toothpicks therein. The kicker element dislodges the separated toothpick from the notch whereby the toothpick descends along the track portion until it comes to rest in the cradle in the base where it may be manually picked up.

It is understood that our invention is not confined to the particular construction and arrangements of parts herein illustrated and described but embraces all equivalents thereof.

We claim:

1. A toothpick dispenser comprising:

a. a base having a pair of upright sidewalls, said sidewalls each having a generally forwardly declining upper edge, each of said edges having:

1. a separating notch for receiving and holding one end of a toothpick;

2. a declining track portion forwardly of said notch; and

3. a cradle portion forwardly of said track portion;

b. a forwardly declining receptacle portion for holding a multiplicity of toothpicks, said receptacle portion having a bottom wall and a front wall spaced from said bottom wall to form a transverse dispensing slot across the front of the bottom wall;

c. an actuator lever fixedly attached to and supporting said receptacle portion for movement therewith, said actuator lever being pivotally mounted between the sidewalls of said base for movement between a normal rest position and a depressed dispensing position; and

d. a kicker element mounted for movement with said actuator lever and receptacle portion and positioned between said sidewalls for dislodging a toothpick from said notch as the actuator lever returns to its rest position whereby said toothpick descends by gravity along said track portion and is caught in said cradle portion for manual pickup.

2. The toothpick dispenser as specified in claim 1 wherein said bottom wall has a pair longitudinally extending slots communicating with said transverse dispensing slot, and said sidewalls have a pair of wedge-shaped jogs extending upwardly through said pair of slots.

3. The toothpick dispenser as specified in claim 1 including a stop on said actuator lever for engaging said base to limit the forward pivotal movement of the receptacle portion supported on said lever. 

